I am curious how most of you guys play legato? Do you guys take special care to insure 2 notes overlap each other for a small moment in time? Is it possible to exaggerate this action too much? It sounds simple but its always fun to re-examine the basics

Seriously though - Legato is something I thought as being easy to do, until my teacher said I was not playing legato enough. Since I am so used to my own playing and sound, I didn't realize that I was not always playing very legato, so I have to pay extra attention to this. I think leaving one finger down a little longer when the other one comes down works in situations when the harmony is not blurred, or when you are moving slowly from one set of keys to another and it has to so flawlessly, or more like seamlessly connected. A piece I'm working on right now has to be soooo legato in places, and it's taking a lot of experimenting with all of that. And if you get to use the pedal, you can control the sound also.

_________________"Simplicity is the highest goal, achievable when you have overcome all difficulties." ~ Frederic Chopin

Yeah I do the same exact thing. I don't really follow the exact markings in the music, I just kind of do what I feel would sound best. Mostly I try to make everything as legato as possible, though. I just hate the sound of lifting up and detachment unless I know the piece would sound sucky if it weren't detached.

I kind of do the same thing with the pedal. I don't think I've ever followed the pedal markings for even more than a few measures of a piece. It just adds too much more to concentrate on for me, and I just like music that uses a lot of pedal. Not to the point where you can't distinguish individual tones from each other, but again that kind of has to do with the legato thing.

Anyone use the pedal as a complete substitute for legato? I don't, but I was just wondering if anybody would actually do that.

_________________"When one does a thing, it appears good, otherwise one would not write it. Only later comes reflection, and one discards or accepts the thing. Time is the best censor, and patience a most excellent teacher." - Frédéric Chopin

You know these days I tend to practise my legato first without any pedal at all. I tend to add my pedaling after. If a try to do it all at the same time its just too much for me. Also it is a different sound, legato without the pedal isn't it? I am thinking with the pedal itself the note dies out too quickly or becomes too thin for a nice legato (I am not at the piano so I can't experiment, just going by memory?)

[quote="chopinman0901"]Yeah I do the same exact thing. I don't really follow the exact markings in the music, I just kind of do what I feel would sound best. Mostly I try to make everything as legato as possible, though. I just hate the sound of lifting up and detachment unless I know the piece would sound sucky if it weren't detached.

I kind of do the same thing with the pedal. I don't think I've ever followed the pedal markings for even more than a few measures of a piece. It just adds too much more to concentrate on for me, and I just like music that uses a lot of pedal. Not to the point where you can't distinguish individual tones from each other, but again that kind of has to do with the legato thing.

Anyone use the pedal as a complete substitute for legato? I don't, but I was just wondering if anybody would actually do that.[/quote]

I like the blending together of different harmonies, sometimes to the point where it can become extremely dissonant... And sometimes I have to actually remind myself to use the pedal less, because I've actually caught myself playing through entire pieces, never lifting off the pedal.

I've become kind of immune to dissonance... When I was younger, I used to actually have problems listening to a 7 chord, because I thought it was "dissonant" ... now I don't even hear dissonance at all... minor 2nds do nothing to me!

However, when I finally manage to break away from my pedal, I tend to release the first note, only when the second has been hit.

_________________"This is death! This is death as this emanation of the female which leads to unification ... death and love ... this is the abyss." This is not music", said [Sabaneev] to him, "this is something else..." - "This is the Mysterium," he said softly.

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